CHENNAI: In an astonishing accomplishment, the Poonamallee Regional Transport Office (RTO) registered a whopping 720 vehicles on October 31, a week before the new vehicle life tax came into force on November 8. The RTO’s efforts on a single day have raised eyebrows given that even if a vehicle inspector spent only three minutes per vehicle and worked without any breaks, it would have taken 36 hours to complete registration and inspection of all 720 vehicles.
The average number of vehicles registered at Chennai RTOs is 100 to 125 a day. So normally one vehicle would be registered every four minutes or so during an eight-hour workday, but on October 31 the Poonamallee RTO registered one vehicle every 40 seconds!
The Poonamallee RTO is not the only RTO in Chennai to have accomplished such a superhuman feat.
Between October 11, when the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed the Bill to increase the motor vehicle life tax and November 8 when the new regime came into effect, several city RTOs, including Red Hills, Sholinganallur, Tambaram, and Sriperumbudur, witnessed a surge in vehicle registration ranging from two to 2.5 times the normal numbers, VAHAN portal data accessed by TNIE has revealed. The Transport Commissioner and other officials could not be reached for comments.
‘Govt must permit vehicle registration at dealer points’
Automobile dealers associations, along with some civic groups that had been advocating for exemption from the compulsory RTO inspection for new vehicles, citing concerns about potential graft, said the data has vindicated their allegations.
Currently, dealers in TN collect `500 to 1,200 from buyers of two-wheelers and `1,500 for buyers of cars and other vehicles as an “additional expense” at RTOs. According to the VAHAN data, on October 31 alone, 720 new vehicles were registered at Poonamallee RTO and 265 at Redhills RTO. The other RTOs in Chennai registered about 175 to 240 vehicles. The average number of registered vehicles in the city stands at 100 to 125 a day.
“Given the routine tasks carried out by RTOs, such as issuing Learner’s Licence, conducting Driver’s Licence tests, inspecting accident sites, and other responsibilities, registering 100 to 120 vehicles a day is already a challenge. Besides verifying the chassis number, the entire vehicle must be inspected by the official according to a checklist, a process that would take a few minutes.
If more than 700 vehicles are registered, it implies that officials may not have physically examined the vehicles, casting doubt on the entire procedure,” a dealer affiliated with the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) said.
He noted that the union government, in March 2021, amended the Central Motor Vehicle Act to allow vehicle registration without the mandatory physical presence at RTOs.
However, the governments of Tamil Nadu and a few other states are unwilling to grant exemptions, perpetuating the requirement for on-site inspections.
“Several vehicle buyers might opt to buy new vehicles to save a few thousand rupees before the revised tax takes effect. However, inspecting and registering such a high volume of vehicles in a single day is humanly impossible and becomes redundant. Considering the enhanced prices of vehicles, the government should consider permitting vehicle registration at the dealer point to reduce the overall cost of new vehicles,” another dealer said.
Despite repeated attempts, the Transport Commissioner and Home Secretary could not be reached for comments.